Hi everyone, my Mac Pro crashed recently and wiped out the SSD drive and 8800gt graphics card in the process. I have since replaced The SSD but want to replace the graphics card also. Can anyone recommend some links to suitable upgraded cards that will work with this machine please?
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5), 2 x 2.8ghz QUAD. 20gb RAM. SSD 256
Have a look at macvidcards, they have a wide variety of video cards from amd and nvidia, from low cost up to high power.
In general, every current video card should work in you mac, but the "pure windows versions" dont show a picture until osx has completely booted and drivers have loaded.
The versions from macvidcard are flashed so can show the boot screens. Normaly unnecessary, but when havong troubles in boot process or when you need the boot selection screen for bootcamp, you see the worth of the extra mone you have spent for the flashed versions.
I got my 980ti from them.
greetings from germany
Chris
<Link Edited by Host>
As a general comment if your using Apple's Final Cut Pro X an AMD video card is the best choice, and if your using Adobe software then an Nvidia card is best.
The Nvidia GTX-680 and AMD Radeon HD 7950 can both be easily 'flashed' to Mac spec cards yourselves using tools in Windows via Boot Camp. Higher model Nvidia cards like Christian's GTX 980Ti need to be flashed by MacVidCards for you - if you want the benefits of a flashed card.
Thanks guys. Im actually in the UK so MacVidCards is useful but not cost effective to purchase from them. Any good Mac Video Card specialists in the UK?
Had to replace my GT8800 on a mac pro 2008 last year
decided to replace it with a Nvidia GeForce GT120 which was the stock card with the 2009
got it through a stockist in the UK it was unused and sealed and boxed in an Apple upgrades box,
works very well quiet and cool, compared to the burning hot 8800GT.
lots of folk will admit it is a pretty low end card but copes well enough for me
plus it is cheap. sadly the company that I got it from has sold out
but i did see this.
smuuudge wrote:
Thanks guys. Im actually in the UK so MacVidCards is useful but not cost effective to purchase from them. Any good Mac Video Card specialists in the UK?
I'm also in the UK as well so I share your pain. The guy running MacVidCards is apparently the only person who has so far managed to work out how to flash GTX-980 cards. If you want one of those he therefore has you by the short and curlies. If however you want an AMD card e.g. Radeon HD 7950, or a GTX-680 then these can be flashed ones self by downloading Windows tools and following guides.
You can use standard Windows version cards but then they will have known limitations such as not showing anything before booting has finished and hence not supporting the Recovery partition or other Mac options.
Hi Smudge,
i am from germany, so the pain of loooong delivery time (it took about 4 weeks) and extra tax and toll costs are nearly the same. And i don´t want to talk about the high price. 😠
But in my opinion the pain is worth suffering. If i did know someone in germany or europe, of course, i would have ordered there. But ... i dont know someone. And nobody else seems knowing.
My conclusion to macvidcards ... yes, they are expensive, but they are the only one who can flash the younger high-performance video cards for mac pro.
And the gtx 980ti is faster than light. 😉
To save some money, you can use many unflashed windows video cards, but they all don´t show the boot screens (important when having troubles) and boot selection screens (important when using bootcamp).
greetings from germany
Chris
@John...
Hi John,
you say that Radeon HD 7950, or a GTX-680 can be flashed by myself. Hmmm, getting the flashing tools is one problem (is it a pure software solution, or is it a hardware device?), getting the firmware rom data the next problem.
So my questions ... where can i get the flashing tools for these video cards, where can i get the firmware rom data files?
greetings from germany
Chris
http://forum.vrayforc4d.com/index.php?threads/13946/
Flashing the GTX680 2gb for the use in macpro
and
Hi Illaass,
i see, that is something for the hardware freaks 😉.
But thank you!
greetings from germany
Chris
Christian Stueben wrote:
@John...
Hi John,
you say that Radeon HD 7950, or a GTX-680 can be flashed by myself. Hmmm, getting the flashing tools is one problem (is it a pure software solution, or is it a hardware device?), getting the firmware rom data the next problem.
So my questions ... where can i get the flashing tools for these video cards, where can i get the firmware rom data files?
greetings from germany
Chris
For AMD cards like the Radeon HD 7950 they can either be flashed using a firmware file created by someone else and examples for the 7950 and 7970 exist, or the full process which involves 'saving' a copy of the standard Windows firmware and appending to it the Mac EFI code and then loading this modified version in to the card. I have done this successfully myself.
Note: If you use a pre-built firmware file there is a slight chance it may not be 100% suitable for your card, some varieties of card will have different video connectors for example. If you have what is typically a 'reference' design of the video card i.e. the same as the original standard version then you should be ok.
See - http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,5619.0.html
For the GTX-680 see the links Illaass provided.
Thanks Eau. That looks like an option i will research further on performance. I need it for graphics work so not sure how that will stack up but guess no worse than the 8800 right?
I found this on Ebay. I know it wont have the boot screen but i could probably live without that. Anyone have any experience with these cards? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ATi-Radeon-HD-5870-1GB-HD-Graphics-Video-Card-For-All- Apple-Mac-Pro-2006-2012-/221814791746?ha…
smuuudge wrote:
I found this on Ebay. I know it wont have the boot screen but i could probably live without that. Anyone have any experience with these cards? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ATi-Radeon-HD-5870-1GB-HD-Graphics-Video-Card-For-All- Apple-Mac-Pro-2006-2012-/221814791746?ha…
That card (on eBay) is a standard PC version and has already been 'flashed' to have Mac compatible firmware for you. It makes it pretty much equivalent to the original Apple card. It is not clear from the auction details whether those are Apple compatible power cables, Apple's logic board power connectors are slightly different i.e. smaller to the PC equivalent, however such cables are easy to buy also on eBay or on Amazon.
Hi John, is it Flashed?
Quote from the listing "There is also no boot screen that appears with this card. Once you start the Mac and hear the familiar chime, it'll take you straight to the desktop bypassing the grey screen with the Apple logo (looks kinda neat).".....
smuuudge wrote:
Hi John, is it Flashed?
Quote from the listing "There is also no boot screen that appears with this card. Once you start the Mac and hear the familiar chime, it'll take you straight to the desktop bypassing the grey screen with the Apple logo (looks kinda neat).".....
I read the bit that said…
Here for sale is an ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB Graphics Card flashed with the latest firmware and is compatible in all models of Mac Pro from 2006-2012.
…but your right reading further on it says it does not have the Mac boot screen meaning it has only been flashed with the latest Windows firmware. It would be possible to still flash to Mac firmware ones self.
Yeah works fine for me, I use it for photography work, processing multiple images at a time, and don't notice any difference to the 8800gt.
I don't do any video processing work or gaming, where it might show up it short comings.
As the mac pro will accommodate more than one video card, you could use this mac ready card for times you want or need the
boot screens and opt for a non flashed PC card for high end graphics work, just a thought.
2009 Mac Pro 8 core graphics card upgrade advice
